Cruel Laughter
by tlsmith86
Summary: A desperate man decides to make good on his promise.


This story has spoilers for 'A Thousand Days On Earth'. I don't own CSI or anything like it.

Summary: A desperate man decides to make good on his promise

***

_The afternoon was still. An unnatural calm flowed through out the neighbourhood. There were no chirping birds. There was no playful laughter coming from children. Everything had been silenced by a single gunshot._ _Dean James, aka Leo Finley, stared down at his lifeless body and laughed. His laughter filled the airwaves while all the on lookers stared at him in wonder. Dean wondered why no one seemed to find the humour in his death. He was lying there with a hole in his head. Blood spatter covering everything within a few feet and to top it all off, he had a giant red bow on his head. His body was a gift after all. A gift for a certain blonde Nazi bitch._

Dean laughed at his own little reverie. He had been sitting in his vehicle for a little over an hour now watching Catherine Willows house. The bitch from his nightmares. The bitch that had ruined his new life. He thought he had finally gotten things right. A new identity, new job, and even a fiancé to add to his happy new life. But nothing seemed to last forever, at least not for him. This was all because one person decided he didn't deserve happiness.

Catherine Willows had been on his mind for a long time now. She was the CSI who had relentlessly followed the evidence and had jumped to the wrong conclusions. Dean's entire life had been ruined by people in authority. Sure it was his fault for taking the drugs in the first place, but he was not a dangerous person. If those children had not been there, he would have easily been charged with just lewd and lascivious behavior accompanied by public nudity. But no, he was now a registered sex offender. While he could laugh at public nudity, the sex offender charge would haunt him to his grave.

A promise had been made a while back. Although he wasn't a completely honest man, Dean James always kept his promises.

***

Catherine Willows was tired. She had just pulled a double and was looking forward to a few hours sleep before picking up Lindsey from school. Grissom had assured her that short of a tsunami hitting Las Vegas, he was not going to call her in early.

The neighbourhood seemed quiet as she pulled into the driveway. Usually coming off the nightshift, the street was filled with kids heading to school and everyone else heading to a 9-5 job. Catherine would have preferred to work the dayshift just to get more time to spend with her daughter, but lately it didn't matter since Lindsey was a teenager and would rather spend time with her friends.

Getting out of her vehicle, Catherine noticed the vehicle sitting across the street from her house, but thought nothing of it. She gathered her things, locked her vehicle, and slowly made her way to the front door. It took her a few moments to juggle her stuff around so she could get her keys to open the front door. Before her hand made contact with the door handle, fast approaching foot steps from behind caught her attention.

***

"Hello Catherine"

Dean smiled to himself as he listened to Catherine's small gasp. She quickly turned around to face him. He enjoyed seeing the brief look of panic on her face.

"I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Dean James. You know, that registered sex offender whose life you ruined."

"Yes Dean, I remember you. It's been a while" Dean could tell Catherine was a bit nervous, but he couldn't blame her. Last time they had talked, he hadn't been the happiest person in the world.

"Dean, what are you here for?" Catherine seemed to be getting right to the point. She was looking at him for an answer. Dean slowly pulled out a pistol that he had tucked away in the back of his pants. A smile inched its way back onto Dean's features when he noticed that Catherine had fear in her eyes. Now she knew how he felt when she had pulled a gun on him.

"Do you remember how you said that I should talk to someone? Well, I've decided that I want to talk to you again. I feel our last chat was a little one sided. This time I want to even things out a bit."

"You know, I heard you have a daughter. Is that why you wanted to see me put behind bars so much? Were you afraid that I would have gone after your daughter? Did you think you were just protecting her from another big scary monster?" Dean paused. It was his intention to come here and kill himself in front of her, but he could feel his anger growing out of control. Was he killing himself because his life was fucked? Or was he killing himself simply because the bitch in front of him had pushed him to it.

"I remember telling you that if I decided to kill myself, I would blow my brains out on your front lawn. A gift to you and everything you stand for. But that wouldn't be fair for me would it. I take myself out of the picture and you get to sleep easier every night knowing that there is one less sexual predator out there."

"Are you afraid to die Catherine? I've been asked that before, but it was used more as a threat than anything. You see, when my cat was nailed to my door, there was a note attached as well. It asked me if I was afraid to die. If yes, then I should get the hell out of the neighbourhood. I guess my neighbor wasn't Mr. Rogers."

"Dean listen" There was almost a pleading tone in Catherine's voice. He didn't want to be talked to like that. He wasn't here to listen to reason. He wasn't here to listen to anything really. It was about his need to release all his pent up rage. This was his time to say everything that he wanted to say because no one every seemed to listen to him.

"NO!" Dean yelled while raising the gun. It was now pointed directly between Catherine's eyes

"I'm done listening! All I do is listen when everyone should be listening to me! My life is a fucking joke! I should be a college graduate. I should be a lawyer. I should be married with a kid for Christ's sake! But no, I've been screwed over because people like you jump to conclusions."

Dean James stared down the barrel of his pistol. He could here sirens in the distant. One of the nosey neighbours must have called the cops. Maybe they were going to file a noise complaint. He was after all making one hell of a ruckus. He looked into Catherine's eyes. They were filled with fear, anger, and determination. Dean couldn't help but respect that Catherine was a strong willed individual. Her daughter must be proud to have her as a mother. But it had to end now.

Dean James' heartless laughter filtered out the distant sirens, but was quickly replaced by the resonating sound of a single gun shot.


End file.
